WTB bass neck shim

JamieWakeham · August 2020

Does anyone have a pre-made neck shim for a bass they would like to sell to me? I'm loath to pay postage from the US for a StewMac one! I think either 0.25 or 0.5 degrees would do.

Or if anyone knows of any UK based seller - I just had a quick look at the usual suspects but couldn't find any.

Cheers
Jamie

Funkfingers · August 2020

Impossible to answer without being told what make and model of bass guitar the shim needs to fit.

Why not make your own?

JamieWakeham · August 2020

Sorry - it's a Fenix J with the standard Fender size neck pocket.

As I understand it the StewMac blanks can be had either cut to fit the standard, or oversized to trim to any guitar.

I did think about making my own - I guess the easiest way would be to buy a piece of maple veneer and then sand it down. But that's probably more fuss than I have time and head space for so I'd be quite happy to pay for a pre-made one! I was quite prepared to pay £8 for the StewMac one, but when they added a further £10 for postage I thought I'd see if they could be had more locally. I'm slightly surprised there isn't an enterprising woodworker knocking them out on ebay.

ICBM · August 2020

You can use any piece of material of roughly the right thickness, it doesn't need to be wood veneer.

Fender have always used card or fibreboard.

JamieWakeham · August 2020

I thought the point was to introduce a slight angle with the shim (the Stewmac ones taper from 0.7mm to 0.2mm). If I use card, how do I get that taper? I can see that I could use several pieces in a sort of stacked staircase arrangement, but I thought that leaving air gaps in the neck pocket was a no-no.

JezWynd · August 2020

I've used a business card cut to fit in the past and its worked fine. It's surprising how little is needed to achieve the correct angle. Once the neck has been screwed back on the pressure will mean there's little to no gap. A strip from a credit card can work well too.

wrinkleygit · August 2020

Crunchy Nut Corn Flake packet works for me every time, I get breakfast & enough material for shims to last a lifetime.

ICBM · August 2020

JamieWakeham said:

I thought the point was to introduce a slight angle with the shim (the Stewmac ones taper from 0.7mm to 0.2mm). If I use card, how do I get that taper? I can see that I could use several pieces in a sort of stacked staircase arrangement, but I thought that leaving air gaps in the neck pocket was a no-no.

Nonsense

. Or internet myth.

It makes either no difference at all, or it's actually better to do it the traditional way with an air gap.

Bear in mind that many of the most highly-regarded vintage Fender instruments came from the factory with a plain shim across the end of the pocket and an air gap.

JamieWakeham · August 2020

A single business card has indeed made an enormous difference to the angle - thanks for pointing me in the right way. This bass is now playing much better than before!

And just to avoid necro-ing a previous thread - I've also replaced that E string and the annoying buzz has gone, so it looks like it was indeed my fault for cutting the string before I put it under tension.

Funkfingers · August 2020

JamieWakeham said:

to avoid necro-ing a previous thread - I've also replaced that E string and the annoying buzz has gone, so it looks like it was indeed my fault for cutting the string before I put it under tension.

This last piece of information would be of far greater use in the string buzz Discussion.

Most people are far too lazy to go cross-referencing the post content of a given forumite. (Perhaps, that is just me?)

You can probably sneak the end of the string buzz story into the relevant thread by editing one of your posts in that thread. It will not be bumped to the top of the list.

JamieWakeham · August 2020

Fair - I guess it is useful for anyone finding that thread to know what the cause of the problem was.

stickyfiddle · August 2020

I put a much-needed shim in my Strat this weekend. I used a bit of elixir string packet - for maximum tone...

mrn1989 · September 2020

Incase you still one, they're still kinda pricy but nevertheless https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202975276574

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WTB bass neck shim

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